They were looking for evidence of asbestos, a hazardous material that has plagued the district since 2000.

The parents claim asbestos traces were later found on five wipes. The results, they say, show the district isn't doing enough to protect children from the cancer-causing material. They want testing stepped up at all four Brookfield schools.

"What we found shows us that we have a right to be concerned," said
Kathy Rossland-Hulce
, one of the parents who took the samples.

Superintendent
John Goetz
said it was inappropriate for parents to go into the school to collect samples instead of coming to him with concerns. "I have a problem with them taking their own samples. I don't know the conditions or locations," Goetz said.

Goetz said the district is precisely following a plan set out by its asbestos expert,
Mark Granville
. Among other things, Goetz said the district is performing sophisticated tests, covering some floor tiles with runners and working up a plan to present to town officials for removing all asbestos materials from schools.

Granville did not return a phone call Wednesday. But according to Goetz the consultant said, "there was no imminent danger and no need to do anything on an emergency basis.''

"I take Dr. Granville at his word," Goetz said. "If that's not good enough for (the parents), I don't know what to tell them."

Asbestos was commonly used in building materials into the late 20th century. But by the 1980s, medical experts found flaking asbestos could cause cancer and other breathing disorders in people exposed to it over prolonged periods.

Brookfield's problems started in 2000. During renovation work at Whisconier, tests found airborne asbestos in classrooms. The district has since spent millions of dollars on cleanup and testing at its four schools. The source of the asbestos in the dust and in the air has never been positively identified, though the floor tiles are among the suspects.

Some parents, including Rossland-Hulce, distrust of Brookfield's efforts and complained to the state. Attorney General
Richard Blumenthal
determined that between 2000 and 2002, the state health department did not adequately monitor conditions in the schools.

On March 16, the four parents went to Whisconier, where a child of one parent was involved in an after-school activity. The parents say the school was open and they did not break in.

One of the parents, Dr.
Frederick Hesse
, said he's worried about his four children in Brookfield schools. He said he wrote this month to Blumenthal and the state health department to urge them to look again at Brookfield's clean-up and testing efforts.

Hesse said if the district used the proper cleaning procedures from 2002 to 2004, the schools would be asbestos-free by now. He said the baby wipe samples show the district's cleaning methods to be ineffective.

"Every parent has the intrinsic hope that after the big battle in 2002 when the attorney general came in, that we finally thought it would be safe and someone was watching over the asbestos," Hesse said.

Rohde, the environmental consultant who worked with the parents, said it was hard to say from the baby wipe samples how much asbestos was present. But he said the results call for further testing. "I would want to go to the next step and find out what level is present," he said.

Goetz disagreed, saying Granville warned against testing more dust samples at this time. Instead, Goetz said, the district is using a more sophisticated analysis that it hopes will pinpoint the sources of asbestos. The results are not yet available.

In the meantime, the district is following Granville's advice to cover the tiles in one area of Whisconier until they can be removed this summer, Goetz said.

Granville recommended the district "proceed in a planned, orderly way" and that "there is no imminent danger and no need to do anything on an emergency basis as long as conditions do not change," Goetz said.
Contact Eileen FitzGerald